Putin appoints Gerasimov as Chief of General Staff

Gerasimov has replaced Nikolai Makarov on the post of the Chief of General Staf

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MOSCOW, November 9 (Itar-Tass) — Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree appointing Colonel-General Valery Gerasimov as Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces – First Deputy Defence Minister, relieving him from the post of the commander of the troops in the Central Military District, the Russian presidential press service reported on Friday.

Putin dismissed General Nikolai Makarov from the post of the chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces – the first deputy defence minister and dismissed him from the military service, the Russian presidential press service reported on Friday.

The Russian president issued a decree dismissing Alexander Sukhorukov from the post of the first deputy defence minister.

The president issued a decree appointing Arkady Bakhin as First Deputy Defence Minister and relieving him from the post of the commander of the troops in the Western Military District.

The president also decreed to appoint Colonel-General Oleg Ostapenko as Deputy Defence Minister, relieving him from the post of the commander of the Aerospace Defence Troops.

Vladimir Putin regarded Valery Gerasimov as a worthy candidate for the post of the Chief of the General Staff of the RF Army. The president made this statement on Friday at a meeting with the new Minister of Defence Sergei Shoigu, who introduced Gerasimov’s candidature to the president.

“I think the minister has selected a suitable candidature, and I hope that you will work with total efficiency,” said Putin. He noted that he knows Gerasimov at the previous places of work as an experienced person. “You and I will yet talk not once, talk about the problems that the Armed Forces, the Navy, Air Force are facing,” the RF head of state said. “One of the uppermost tasks - this is, certainly, the rearmament of the Army and Navy, but not only that. There are other tasks as well - to improve both the structure and troops’ command and control.”

He pointed out that decisions on advanced types of weapons for all branches of the armed forces largely depend on the General Staff. “We have a problem, it is, in principle, a working issue, but still I would like the problem minimised. It is that recently we have very often seen changes in the Defence Ministry’s requirements to the industry,” the president said.

He also added that it is quite understandable and natural that life is always changing. “The situation in the science and technology sphere is rapidly changing, and new means of warfare appear. And certainly, we need to be oriented for advanced means, but still certain stability is needed here,” Putin said. “I very much hope that together with the minister we will be able to build a stable, good partnership work with our leading industrial enterprises in the defence industry sphere.”

For its part, Gerasimov thanked the president “for the confidence.” “I believe that all the activities of the General Staff should be aimed at achieving one main goal – maintaining combat readiness of the Armed Forces in a state that guarantees the fulfilment of all the tasks set before the Armed Forces. And I shall do everything I can to achieve that goal,” he stressed.

Earlier on Friday Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu at a meeting with RF President Vladimir Putin has nominated Valery Gerasimov, who earlier held the post of Commander of the Central Military District, for the post of Chief of the General Staff of the RF Army.

“I recommend for the post of the Chief of the General Staff Valery Vasilyevich Gerasimov — a career military man with major life experience in the army, a person who is respected in the army, who has colossal experience of work both in the General Staff and in the field. And, certainly, having combat experience,” Shoigu said.

Valery Gerasimov was born on September 8, 1955 in Kazan. In 1973 he graduated from the Kazan Suvorov Military Academy, then the Kazan High Tank Command Academy, the Malinovsky Academy of Armoured Troops and the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces. He passed all posts in the military career from the commander of the platoon to the deputy chief of the General Staff. He was appointed as commander of the troops in the Central Military District from the post of the deputy chief of the General Staff in 2012.